Impacts of tourism
Tourism’s 3 main impact areas
- Depletion of natural resources
o Water resources
 Overuse water resources
 Result in water shortage and degradation of water supplies, greater volume
waste
 In warmer climates tourist consumes twice as much water than natural
 Golf course can deplete fresh water resources
o Local resources
 Energy, food, and other raw materials that already on short supply
o Land Degradation
 Land resources include, minerals, fossil fuels, fertile soil, forests, wetland and
wildlife
 Increase in construction of tourism and rec facilities, increase pressure on
resources
 Forest suffer from negative impacts because of tourism and deforestation
- Pollution
o Tourism can cause, air emissions, noise, solid waste and littering, releases of sewage, oil
and chemical
o Air and noise
 Tourism accounts for more than 60% of air travel which leads to air emissions.
 Emissions have been linked to acid rain and global warming
 Noise pollution causes distress to wildlife, annoyance, stress, and even hearing
loss
o Solid waste and littering
 Solid waste and littering can degrade the physical appearance of water and
shoreline and cause the death of marine animals
 Mountain areas are problems because of the tourist as they leave waste behind.
Some waste left behind from mountain tourist are, garbage oxygen tank,
camping equipment, etc.
o Sewage
 Sewage increases where there is more tourism attractions
 Damages coral reefs
 Can threaten the health of humans and animals
o Aesthetic pollution
 Things look out of place
 Roads, employee housing, parking, service areas, and waste disposal
- Physical Impacts
o More people visited parks and more natural attraction
o Has increased twelve fold
o Cause not only by tourist related land clearing and construction but by continuing
tourist activities and long-term changes in local economies and ecologies
- Physical impacts of tourism development
o Constriction activities and infrastructure development
 Construction for access to tourist attractions such as parks can lead to land
degradation and loss of wildlife habitats and deterioration of scenery

Yosemite National Park is a growing tourist attraction to keep up with visitors
 Building of parking lots, which leads to more cars, and to air pollution
from the cars exhaust/ smog
- Deforestation and intensified or unsustainable use of land
o Causes severe disturbance and erosion of local ecosystems
o Destruction in the long term
- Marina development
o Destroy habitats
o Pollution from sewage
o Overfishing
- Physical impacts from tourist activities
o Trampling
 Destroying vegetation and soil causing loss of biodiversity
- Alteration of ecosystems by tourist activities
o Stress on the animals and alter their behaviours
o Safaris noise and commotion created by tourist
Socio-cultural impacts
The effects on the host communities of direct and indirect relations with tourists, and of
interaction with tourism industry
-